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Parasitic being
Caption: A neural parasite. Caption: A parasite infiltrated Gregory Quinn. Caption: The mother creature. Neural parasite aliens attempted to infiltrate the Federation's Starfleet Command in 2364, by physically infiltrating high-ranking admirals within the organization. Persons who fell victim to infiltration included Admiral Gregory Quinn, Admiral Aaron, and Admiral Savar. Admiral Quinn suspected that something was wrong at the highest levels of Starfleet Command in mid-2364. Seeking allies he could trust, he ordered Lieutenant Commander Dexter Remmick to investigate Captain Jean-Luc Picard to determine his trustworthiness. Remmick's investigation found that, despite a sense of over-familiarity amongst the Enterprise-D's bridge crew, Picard was above reproach. Quinn told Picard of his suspicions and that he wanted to promote Picard to Admiral, so he could take over as Commandant of Starfleet Academy. Picard turned down the offer, believing he could serve Quinn better by remaining as Captain of the Enterprise. (TNG "Coming of Age") Other high-ranking officers had their own suspicions. Captains Walker Keel, Rixx and Tryla Scott noticed a pattern of unusual orders and activity coming from Starfleet Command. Officers they had known for years were suddenly bluffing their way through talk of old times, Starbase 12 was mysteriously evacuated for two days without explanation and Onna Karapleedeez, Ryan Sipe and McKinney had all died under mysterious circumstances. Quinn and Scott fell victim to the parasites, both becoming hosts, and Remmick became host to the parasites mother creature. However, Captains Keel and Rixx were unaware of this and called Picard to a meeting on Dytallix B via a Code 47 signal. They warned Picard of the threat, and to watch his back. Keel's ship, the USS Horatio was destroyed shortly afterwards, with Keel aboard. This incident, and evidence of a pattern in Starfleet's unusual orders found by Lieutenant Commander Data, led Picard to order the Enterprise to Earth to confront Starfleet Command directly. Quinn boarded the Enterprise, and while Picard was on the surface he attempted to implant Commander William Riker with one of the parasites. Riker attempted to fight him off, but was easily overpowered, as were Worf and Geordi La Forge. He was only subdued when Doctor Beverly Crusher shot him with a phaser. Having subdued Admirals Savar and Aaron and Captain Scott, Picard and Riker tracked one of the parasites to a room where Dexter Remmick, inhabited by the parasite's mother creature, was waiting. Both Remmick and the mother creature were killed by heavy phaser fire at the hand of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander William Riker of the ''USS Enterprise-D'', thereby also killing all other parasite infiltrators on Earth. The Admirals and Captain Scott made a full recovery. However, the parasites' mother had sent a signal in to deep space which Data identified as a beacon, indicating that their return would only be a matter of time. (TNG: "Conspiracy") :Despite this, the parasites were not seen again, though that might be simply because the signal hadn't reached its destination by the end of The Next Generation's run. Biology The parasites' natural appearance is that of light purple, crawling insects. A person inhabited by one of the parasites will display a noticable spine-like petrusion from their neck. They are, apparently, incapable of inhabiting Soong-type androids such as Data. The parasites' appear to be highly intelligent, perhaps more intelligent than humans. However, the parasites do not retain all of their host's memories, providing another means through which they can be exposed. A human inhabited by the parasites will display increased physical strength - such that the elderly Admiral Quinn was able to easily fight off three much younger men - and vitality. Not realising that Quinn had been inhabited, Picard had commented that Quinn looked much healthier than the last time they had met. The parasites are connected to their mother, a larger creature still capable of inhabiting a human host. The death of this creature will also result in the deaths of all of her progeny. (TNG: "Conspiracy") Apocrypha In the Deep Space Nine relaunch novel "Unity," the neural parasites returned in 2376, shortly after the end of the Dominion War. Shakaar Edon was one of those infiltrated. See Also * Neural parasite